Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Tennant's Hamlet to be Released on DVD

Hamlet. Dir. Gregory Doran. Perf. David Tennant and Patrick Stewart. Royal Shakespeare Company. Stratford-on-Avon. The Courtyard Theatre. 24 July-15 November 2008.I've had this e-mail in my inbox for a while, and I have five quick minutes to post it here.

This summer, David Tennant, the current (for now only, alas) Doctor Who played Hamlet in Stratford. The world—the universe, in fact—went wild. He's very good at playing people who have a heaviness of existence that belies their young looks and who are intent on putting the time, which is often out-of-joint, right again.

Those in charge of decision-making have done the right thing (whether it was due to the multiple petitions, the desire to preserve the performance, or simple economics): Tennant's Hamletwill be released on DVD. Hurrah!Note: The image above is Tennant—The Doctor, really—striking a brief Hamletesque pose with a very odd skull that he found in the tiring house of the Globe theatre when he travelled back to 1599 to save the world with William Shakespeare and Martha Jones (the episode listed below).

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Bardfilmis normally written as one word, though it can also be found under a search for "Bard Film Blog." Bardfilmis a Shakespeare blog (admittedly, one of many Shakespeare blogs), and it is dedicated to commentary on films (Shakespeare movies, The Shakespeare Movie, Shakespeare on television, Shakespeare at the cinema), plays, and other matter related to Shakespeare (allusions to Shakespeare in pop culture, quotes from Shakespeare in popular culture, quotations that come from Shakespeare, et cetera).

Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from Shakespeare's works are from the following edition:

KJ is a professor of English and Literature at a small Christian liberal arts college. In addition to courses entitled “Shakespeare” and “Introduction to Shakespeare,” he teaches a course called “Shakespeare and Film.” Recently, he developed a course titled “Modern Shakespearean Fiction.” Shakespeare is also integrated into nearly all his other courses, including courses on the Literature of Food and the Literature of Humor. Additionally, he is the author of Bardfilm: The Shakespeare and Film Microblog. But you may have known that already.